Florida forest fire expert retires from third career

Don Ruths, 69, is retiring from his third career -- this one as… (Lori Carter/Correspondent )

January 14, 2014|By Lori Carter, Correspondent

Don Ruths has put out his last fire.

Ruths, 69, retired on Nov. 21 from the Florida Forest Service. For the last seven years, he has been in charge of helping to avoid and mitigating wildfires in Lake, Sumter, Citrus, Hernando and Pasco counties from his base at the Withlacoochee Forestry Center.

One of his goals has been to reduce the number of fires caused by human error, and he said he's been successful at it.

"Communities started listening to us," he said.

Being a fire expert was Ruths' third career.

Born in Virginia, he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and history from the University of Virginia. Then, he served in the U.S. Air Force as an officer and went to pilot training school. He flew C-130s, large cargo aircraft, and then AC-130 gunships, a combat plane.

"I did 110 combat missions in Vietnam," he said. "I was 26. I was never shot down. We always prayed before, during and after."

Ruths, an Air Force pilot from 1967 to 1988, was with the 89th Military Airlift Wing, the presidential fleet. He said he flew "very important people" on special missions. And for the last nine years in the military, he was in research and development.

"We flew various aircraft," he said. "We were developing the stealth fighter."

During his time in the service, Ruths earned a master's degree in business from Central Michigan University in 1977.

"I've been blessed," he said of his military career. "I knew exactly where I was going. I was going to pilot training. I don't know where it came from. I just picked up the desire to fly."

Ruths' second career was at an aerospace company, where he supervised 225 engineers and technicians who worked on space shuttles.

"It was really interesting — a lot of fun because we always had to get the shuttle back flying again," Ruths said.

In 2003, Ruths retired and moved to Florida with his wife of 43 years, Lynette. He couldn't sit still, so he got the job in forestry. As part of it, Ruths acted as spokesman for the agency, explaining how fires work to the press. He's not sure what's next.

"I'm taking it one day at a time," he said. "I'll probably do some volunteer work."